Digital Commons Network^™

Historical Biogeography Of Lowland Species Of Toads (Bufo) Across The Trans-Mexican Neovolcanic Belt And The Isthmus Of Tehuantepec, Benson H. Morrill

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The eastern extension of the massive Trans-Mexican Neovolcanic Belt 1 (TMNB) contacts the Atlantic Coast in central Veracruz, Mexico. Although it is not a massive structure at this eastern terminus, the TMNB has nonetheless effected vicariance and subsequent speciation in several species groups, including bufonid toads and freshwater fishes. In this study, we examined mtDNA sequences (cyt b, 16S) from populations of two different species groups of toads (B. marinus, and the B. nebulifer-B. valliceps species pair) from a lowland transect across the eastern end of the TMNB. We also included samples from outside this region (e.g., Costa …

Meanings Transferred Through The Consumption Of Jewelry In Romania, Meagan Call

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

In the past decade, there has been a vast expansion and globalization of markets. This "globalization demands that consumer researchers have experience and knowledge about individual countries and international conditions" (Arnould et al, 2002). The globalization of consumer research "demands that...researchers have experience and knowledge about individual countries and international conditions...meaningful synthesis and comparison demands not just proficiency in statistical methods and languages but insights into cultural differences" (Arnould et al, 2002). What is important for marketers to understand is the relationship between culture and product meanings. One important area of meanings involves personal meanings such as those high involvement …

Amazonian Women: A Multi-Voiced Narrative On Surviving Breast Cancer, Melissa Bowles

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

When my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer in May of 2003, I immediately turned to journal writing and to reading to try and make sense of what was happening in my family. I searched websites for causes of breast cancer and ways to prevent it, I read literary women's memoirs, and I wrote a great deal about the way that I was feeling: scared, guilty, angry, broken. As a reader and a writer I needed to somehow intellectualize all of the things I was feeling. This writing project is a product of that initial response and of my subsequent …

Adult Attachment Styles And Their Correlation With Marital Adjustment And Divorce, Cheryl Jones

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The theory of attachment is a fairly recent approach to studying the relationship between romantic partners. Attachment theory was originally studied to explain the needs and behaviors between infants and their primary caregivers. The attachment style that infants have with their primary caregiver characterizes them throughout their entire lives. Three different styles of attachment have been described: secure, avoidant, and ambivalent. Secure individuals find it easy to get close to others. Avoidant individuals are nervous when people get too close. Ambivalent individuals want to get very close to others and are fearful of abandonment.

Various research studies suggest that attachment …

Compromise In A Changing Political Context: The Case Of Hamas, Medlir Mema

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) has been a point of contention for most students of Middle Eastern politics. There appears to be a dichotomy of views on the question of whether Hamas is a legitimate mainstream political organization within Palestine, or whether it is just another manifestation of the fundamentalist ideology that (according to some people) Islam seems to encourage. The United States has classified Hamas as a terrorist organization and has directed some of its efforts of the war on terror against the organization with the aim of destroying Hamas.

Magnesium Intake And Its Relationship With Type 2 Diabetes, Caralee Wilcock

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Magnesium is an alkaline earth metal and is the second most abundant cation in the human body. Magnesium plays important roles in the structure and the function of the human body; it is involved in more than 300 essential metabolic reactions in the body. Magnesium has been implicated in the prevention and treatment of many diseases including diabetes. Magnesium depletion is commonly associated with both insulin dependent and non-insulin dependent diabetes. A significant number, (between 25% and 39%) of diabetics have been shown to have decreased serum levels of magnesium. There are many possible reasons and mechanisms for this. Diabetics …

A Manual For A Junior Lab Technician, Jared Blaine Burton

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Dear New Junior Lab Technician,

Welcome to Dr. Barnard's laboratory. My name is Jared Burton, and I am currently in medical school. I wanted to write a little bit to give you a "heads-up" about what you should expect working here. I worked in this lab for three years. I picked up quite a bit of experience and research time during my employment here. It was a good, on-campus job. I thought I would write a little manual to be kept in the lab, with the hopes that some future employee will benefit from it, and not be quite as …

Women In International Development Theory, Policy And Progress, Melina Tew

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women (1995) states: "Equality between women and men is a matter of human rights and a condition for social justice and is also a necessary and fundamental prerequisite for equality, development and peace." As this statement suggests, women are indispensable to any program in the developing world desiring sustainable, effective development. Despite efforts to thwart gender inequality, more women than men still live below the poverty line, and there is a global gender gap in levels of education and access to resources. In response to these conditions, the UN Population …

Women In Aviation, Kari Anne Sparks-Webb

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

My goal during my enrollment in the USU Professional Pilot Program is to further the advancement of women in the aviation industry and increase the number of women in the flight program. So, when it came time to choose my senior project there was no better choice for me than to exhibit at the Women in Aviation Convention. It would be a huge step for the school and a great opportunity for me and other students in the program.

Identifying And Conceptualizing The Learning Styles Of Youth Referred To The Juvenile Court System, Linda Hall Smith

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Increasingly youth are being referred to the Juvenile Court for a variety of crimes, including those involving sexually offensive behavior. In the Fall of 2003 the Honorable Judge Gordon Low, of the First District Court in Cache County, State of Utah, requested that a program be developed that would address concerns with regard to the increased frequency of sexually offensive complaints being filed in both the Juvenile, as well as the District Court. His desire was that this program be designed, using an educational format, for youth in Middle and High Schools. Further, it was his intent that it serves …

Genetic Analysis Of Acetone Carboxylase In Azotobacter Vinelandii, Jessica Gardner

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Acetone carboxylase, an inducible multimeric enzyme found in several bacteria, catalyzes the carboxylation of acetone to produce acetoacetate. This is an important reaction for the bacteria because, upon addition of coenzyme A, the acetoacetate can be converted to acetyl-CoA, a common metabolic intermediate. Azotobacter vinelandii, one of the bacteria that produces acetone carboxylase, has two different genes encoding this enzyme. We knocked out the first of these by disrupting it with a kanamycin cassette to help us understand the function of the second gene. Knocking out the gene will also make possible the use of site-directed mutagenesis to further study …

Alkaloids And Old Lace: Pollen Toxins Exclude Generalist Pollinators From Death Camas, Melissa Weber

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Many plants produce toxins to which specialist herbivores - typically insects - have evolved counter-adaptations, sometimes resulting in a co-evolutionary arms race. Although many non-social bee species are likewise taxonomic host specialists, the pollination guilds at their floral hosts frequently include diverse floral generalists as well, even on plants that are otherwise chemically defended. In this study, we show that pollen and nectar of foothills death camas (Toxicoscordion [=Zigadenus] paniculatum) contains zygacine, the alkaloid responsible for this plant's notorious mammalian toxicity. Many adults and larvae of the generalist solitary bee, Osmia lignaria (Megachilidae), were paralyzed and …